Vanessa Ruane's Blog February 11th 2007Vanessa Ruane starts her blog with a quote The very wise, Billy Wilder once said “If you want to get anything done in this town you’ve got to work seven days a week”. I sit here pondering that statement on a Sunday, struggling to get my but over to my faux office/local coffee shop to spend hours trying to eek out another 5 pages on the script I am writing. I missed my yoga class this morning for a little extra cuddle time with my guy and then he made me my favorite breakfast so I had to stay in bed – I mean it’s Sunday right? But now as I sit writing after rushing through my daily scouring of the job lists on Mandy.com, Media-Match and the all ubiquitous Craig’s List - I want a lazy Sunday. Vanessa Ruane and relaxing time It’s raining here in LA, such a novelty. I just want to bake some cookies and cozy on the couch for an all day Marathon of movie watching. I mean I’m a Filmmaker so it’s research. But I know these thoughts are the carrots dangling in the path of distraction trying to pull me away from the goal of finishing a spec screenplay, as if writing with a deadline and a paycheck isn’t hard enough. I find the writing the hardest part of making a film. To sit quietly with yourself and try to get the story out of your mind and make it work on paper with just Location, Action and Dialogue is for a difficult task. Vaneesa Ruane and the screenplay she's writing My story is about a group of Firefighters from Rockaway Beach NY that survived both 9/11 and the Rockaway Fires from the American Airlines plane that crashed into their neighborhood two months later. Heavy stuff – trying to make it real and not melodramatic and not dishonor any of the brave souls who sacrificed their life – you get the challenge. At the moment I’m on page 22 and the towers are about to fall down. I spent all last night watching the documentary, 9/11 by the 2 French filmmakers that were down there that day. I feel the reality and can see it in my mind but I just don’t want to bring the towers down. It’s this little part of the crazy side of my brain that thinks I can keep it from happening if I don’t actually write it down. These are the moments for discipline, for rules. To get through this challenge the first thing I do is leave my house. I go to the Library or Coffee Chop and make a deal for a certain number of pages. I use a realistic number which for me is 5 – there are days where I get to 7 and one rockin’ time I got 10 but 5 is usually a doable number. So Mr. Wilder – I’m taking your advice and off to work believing as in Field of Dreams, “If I write it, the audience will come”. Thanks
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